I've suggested in the past that it's a good idea to check up on the professionals you trust with your health, finances and other important details of your life, like your hair. Hopefully, you'll find that all of the people you work with have clean records. But that's not always the case.

In an effort to help you keep an eye on those you trust, every month I'll be blogging all of the sanctions brought by state licensing boards against professionals in Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Monroe, Montgomery and Schuylkill counties.

In the past, I've written about a select few whose cases I believed merited attention, like Joseph Mannino, whose nursing license was revoked after it was discovered that he'd been convicted of involuntary manslaughter in North Carolina while a medical student.

Below you'll find the list of sanctions issued by the Pennsylvania Department of State in May. The department oversees the many state licensing boards. You can check on the licensing status of your professionals through the department's website. If the person has faced disciplinary action, you'll see that noted at the bottom of the report. To get the circumstances of the discipline, you have to request the information from the state using the email address that's provided.

If you're curious about previous disciplinary actions, here is the department's list by month for the past several years.

Other state agencies, including the Department of Banking and Department of Insurance also discipline professionals they regulate. I intend to start blogging those findings as well. Stay tuned for that info.

Now, here are the May disciplinary actions for the Lehigh Valley and surrounding counties, as reported by the Department of State (taken verbatim from its website):

PA Board of Accountancy

Bucks County

Marc Silverstein, certificate no. CA047082 of Holland, Bucks County, was assessed a $10,000 civil penalty for practicing public accounting without a current license. (11/05/10)

PA Board of Barber Examiners

Berks County

William J. Guidici Jr., license no. BM000387L of Sinking Spring, Berks County, had his license suspended for failure to pay a previously imposed civil penalty. (02/25/11)

Impression Nails, license no. CY194036 of Douglassville, Berks County, was ordered to pay a civil penalty of $2,300 because it practiced nail technology in a grossly incompetent or unethical manner through the use of razor tools and razor blades, failed to maintain tools that come into contact with a client in a sanitary condition at all times, and failed to have a first aid kit with all the required items. (05/02/11)

Bucks County

Coette Heard, license no. CO252362 of Bensalem, Bucks County, had her license suspended for nonpayment of a previously imposed civil penalty. (02/18/11)

Monroe County

Glamor Nail Spa LLC, t/d/b/a Glamor Nail Spa, license no. CY195490 of Tannersville, Monroe County, was ordered to pay a civil penalty of $1,000 because Glamor Nail Spa LLC, while trading and doing business as Glamor Nail Spa, permitted an unlicensed individual to perform cosmetology services in the salon and maintained an unlicensed cosmetology shop by providing waxing services to a client on a premises not licensed for the provision of those services. (05/02/11)

PA Board of Dentistry

Berks County

Anthony J. Pichini, license no. DS014935L of Mt. Penn, Berks County, voluntarily surrendered his dental license because he practiced dentistry from April 1, 1999, until approximately September 2010, and failed to renew his license during said period. (04/29/11)

Montgomery County

Thomas W. McFarland Jr., license no. DS020097L of Wynnewood, Montgomery County, was ordered to pay a civil penalty of $5,000 and his license remains indefinitely suspended under the terms of a previous board order because he engaged in unprofessional conduct by failing to follow current infection-control recommendations issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (04/29/11)

PA Board of Medicine

Bucks County

Hitesh K. Patel, license no. MD064657L of Newtown, Bucks County, was assessed a $5,000 civil penalty and issued a formal reprimand based on disciplinary action taken against his license by the proper licensing authority of New Jersey and failing to report this disciplinary action to the board within 60 days. (01/11/11)

Montgomery County

Arie Oren, license no. MD036293E of Conshohocken, Montgomery County, voluntarily surrendered his license to practice medicine while his criminal case is pending in Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas because he has been charged with a sexual offense relating to his practice of medicine. (04/26/11)

Gary Scheiner, unlicensed of Wynnewood, Montgomery County, was ordered to pay a civil penalty of $1,000 and to immediately cease and desist from engaging in the practice of medicine or attempting to offer to practice medicine in Pennsylvania because he practiced or attempted to offer to practice medicine without possessing a valid license to practice medicine in Pennsylvania. (04/26/11)

PA Board of Nursing

Lehigh County

Janice Wisniewski Coates, license no. RN286943L of Macungie, Lehigh County, has permanently and voluntarily surrendered her license because her license was disciplined by the proper licensing authority in another state. (05/03/11)

Montgomery County

Cynthia Louise Dreifert, license no. PN072953L of Huntingdon Valley, Montgomery County, had her license revoked because she plead guilty to a crime of moral turpitude, was convicted of a misdemeanor which relates to the profession, committed fraud or deceit in the practice of nursing, has been guilty of immoral or unprofessional conduct, and falsified or knowingly made incorrect entries into the patient’s record or other related documents. (02/25/11)

Northampton County

Laura C. Chie, license no. RN357067L of Easton, Montgomery County, was assessed a civil penalty of $1,000 and a public reprimand was placed on her permanent board record because she practiced as a professional nurse on an expired license. (04/04/11)

Schuylkill County

Barbara Gryzik Evans, license no. PN055101L of Coaldale, Schuylkill County, had her license indefinitely suspended based on her being mentally incompetent and unable to practice practical nursing with reasonable skill and safety to patients. (02/24/11)

PA Board of Pharmacy

Bucks County

Mark E. Zulewski, license no. RP044305L of Bensalem, Bucks County, had his license suspended based on his felony conviction under the Drug Act. (01/07/11)

Robert D. Thompson, license no. RP032168L of Fairless Hills, Bucks County, had his license indefinitely suspended and was assessed a $1,000 civil penalty based on disciplinary action imposed by the proper licensing authority of another state and his failure to report it to the board within 90 days of final disposition. (03/21/11)

PA Board of Psychology

Bucks County

Annmarie P. Lynch, unlicensed of Bensalem, Bucks County, was ordered to pay a civil penalty of $3,500 and cease and desist from engaging in the practice of psychology and holding herself out to the public as a psychologist because she held herself out to the public as a licensed psychologist by using a title or description of services incorporating the words "psychological," "psychologist" or "psychology" without being properly licensed. (04/11/11)

Real Estate Commission

Lehigh County

Daniel J. Boyle, license nos. AB066670 and RS214629L of Schnecksville, Lehigh County, was assessed a civil penalty of $3,000 based on his failure to notify and provide accurate information to the commission about his guilty pleas. (11/10/10)

Montgomery County

Stephen J. Izzi, license no. RS183121L of Huntingdon Valley, Montgomery County, had his license revoked, effective June 15, 2011, because he made substantial misrepresentations and engaged in conduct during a real estate transaction which demonstrated bad faith, dishonesty, untrustworthiness or incompetency. (04/27/11)

PA Board of Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists and Professional Counselors

Bucks County

Jane Carol Collaso, license no. CW015472 of Yardley, Bucks County, had her license temporarily suspended because she presents an immediate and clear danger to the public health and safety. (05/03/11)